Government intends to press ahead on PFP

The Taoiseach has confirmed the Government's intention to press ahead with joining the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace programme in the autumn. Mr Ahern says he anticipates a "clear democratic mandate" for membership of PFP to emerge from the forthcoming European elections.

This would be followed by formal discussions and, if the outcome was satisfactory, the approval of the Dail would be sought.

He promised that the Government would publish an information paper on Ireland and PFP within the next few weeks.

Although Ireland had exercised great caution on joining PFP, "it would not be in the national interest to hold back any longer". Mr Ahern was speaking at a conference on the issue in Dublin yesterday, organised by the European Movement.

Participation in PFP would be of practical value to our Defence Forces in preparing for international missions, Mr Ahern said. It would allow them engage more freely in "appropriate training exercises" with other countries, and to upgrade their skills.

"We can make membership of PFP a logical extension of Irish foreign policy, not a departure or aberration from the independent foreign policy tradition that we have developed and of which we are rightly proud."

However, the Taoiseach's stance was attacked yesterday by the Greens. "Not only is it impossible to separate the PFP from all the other issues in the Euro-elections, but it's a gross insult to the intelligence of Irish voters to even pretend that you can," Mr John Gormley TD said.

Ms Patricia McKenna MEP, of the Green Party, told the conference that PFP membership would bring Ireland closer to the "nuclear-armed" NATO. It would undermine neutrality and the United Nations' primary role in the maintenance of international security, she said.

"The Partnership for Peace is a misnomer, as its hidden agenda is not to secure peace but to boost the arms industry as NATO tries to expand eastwards," she said. NATO's expansion into eastern Europe, via PFP, was already providing "an arms bonanza for the weapons merchants".

PFP originally was established by NATO in 1994 as a "waiting room" for aspirant members in Eastern Europe. Following the Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia, its remit was expanded to embrace a variety of peacekeeping, peacemaking and military training initiatives. Other neutral countries in Europe have joined, including Sweden, Austria and Switzerland.

Last January, Mr Ahern revealed the Government's intention to join PFP later in the year, having received legal advice from the Attorney General that no referendum would be needed beforehand.

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, accused the Government of "debasing" the issue for "squalid short-term electoral interests". Having opposed PFP membership before the last election, it was now using it as a "political football".

The Taoiseach promised that the Dail would retain the ultimate decision on the deployment of

Irish troops overseas. "The Government has no hidden policy agenda that would involve joining a military alliance and remains along with all other parties committed to consulting the people in a referendum, should there be an agreed proposal involving any change in that situation."

The heart of Ireland's foreign policy had always involved support for international collective security and engagement in peacekeeping tasks. "Now that existing defence organisations have moved in the direction of adopting those tasks as one of their main priorities, it would be perverse of us to refuse to co-operate with them to the same end."

Referring to his opposition to PFP before the last election, Mr Ahern quoted Sean Lemass: "All right, so I have changed my mind, what about it? We should not assume that non-involvement is more moral than helping to shoulder responsibility for peace. We also have to guard against the last residue of a reflex anti-Americanism, which is apt to come to the surface during any international crisis."